Ramat Naftali, named for one of the tribes of ancient Israel, was hit.
Arab activity in Safed increased as the Arabs waited for Major Hawks to withdraw. The blockade against the Jews was beginning to tell as food and water shortages developed in the Cabalist city. Convoys were getting through to Jewish quarters only when the British helped.
HAIFA
The key port of Palestine was a major objective of both sides. For the time, the dock area stayed in British hands, as it was essential for British withdrawal.
In Haifa the Jews had one of their few superior positions in Palestine, in Har Hacarmel above the Arab sector. The British commander, openly pro-Arab, continued to force the Jews out of strategic positions they had won.
Maccabees rolled barrel bombs down the slopes of Carmel into the Arab area and the Jews managed to ambush a huge Arab arms convoy from Lebanon and kill the Arab commander.
All normal business between the two sectors ceased. Amin Azaddin, an officer of the Arab Legion, arrived to assume command of the ever increasing irregular force.
The British held the Jews in check to allow the Arabs to build enough strength to launch an attack up Har Hacarmel.
THE SHARON
This central plain, scene of the great Crusader battles, was the most thickly settled Jewish area. It faced the most heavily populated Arab area of Samaria known, from its shape, as the “Triangle.” Although both sides remained poised, this sector remained relatively quiet.
TEL AVIV-JAFFA
A battlefield appeared between the adjoining cities. Street fighting and patrols continued around the clock. The Maccabees took their place in the center of the Haganah lines. Raids on both sides were constant. The Arabs used a minaret as an observation and sniping post and the position of the intervening British troops prevented the Jews from attacking it
THE SOUTH
In the sprawling Negev Desert the Jewish settlements were few and widely separated. The Arabs had two large bases, Beersheba and Gaza, of the fame of Samson. The Arabs were able to put a deadly siege on the settlements and slowly starve them. Each Jewish settlement managed to hold but the Arabs
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were bold in this area and the pressure steadily increased. The Jewish air force was born. It consisted of two Piper Cubs for liaison contact. Another Piper Cub flew into besieged Jerusalem. These Pipers carried out their first bombing missions by throwing grenades out of their windows.
JERUSALEM
Abdul Kadar tightened his grip on the throat of Jewish Jerusalem. The Bab el Wad, that tortuous and vulnerable road through the Judean hills, was shut tight. The Jews were able to get through only by organizing large convoys and then at heavy price. The British steadfastly refused to keep the roads open.
Outside of Jerusalem to the south, the Jews had four isolated settlements in the Hebron Hills on the road to Bethlehem. These four settlements, manned by Orthodox Jews, were known as the Etzion group. Their position was as bad and vulnerable as Safed’s. The Etzion group was completely shut off from Jewish Palestine. To make matters worse, the Trans-Jordan Arab Legion, under the thin disguise of being British troops, blocked the road from Jerusalem to these settlements.
Inside Jerusalem the food and water shortages had become critical. Bombings, sniping, armored-car travel, and open warfare were the order of the day.
The fury reached a peak when a Red Cross convoy from the Hadassah Medical Center on Mount Scopus was ambushed by the Arabs and seventy-seven unarmed Jewish doctors were massacred and their bodies hacked to pieces. Again British troops took no action.
Zev Gilboa reported to Ari’s office for the task of receiving Fort Esther from the British.
“We are all ready to go,” Zev said.
“Good. You may as well drive on up to the fort. Major Hawks said he would turn the place over at fourteen hundred. Say, what’s this I hear about you and Liora having another baby?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll have to stop giving you weekends off if you can’t keep out of trouble.” Ari smiled.
Zev ran outside, jumped into the cab of the truck, kicked off the brakes, and drove out of Ein Or kibbutz. Twenty Palmach boys and girls rode along to man Fort Esther. Zev drove over the main artery and then took the mountain roads toward the Lebanese border and Fort Esther.
Zev thought about his last visit to his kibbutz, Sde Shimshon-the Field of Samson. Liora had told him that they 480
were expecting another child. What wonderful news! Zev was a shepherd when he wasn’t on duty … but that seemed long ago. How grand it would be to take his sons out with him and laze on the hillsides around watching the flock …
He switched off thoughts like these; there was much work to do. When Fort Esther was turned over he had to relieve the siege of kibbutz Manara and start dispatching patrols along the border to cut down the flow of irregulars.
The big concrete blockhouse dominated the entire Huleh Valley. It would certainly be a relief to raise the Star of David over the fort.
The gang in the back began to sing as the truck spun around the sharp turns on the mountain road. Zev checked his watch. It was fifteen minutes until the appointed time. He turned the truck around the last turn. The huge square building appeared on the horizon a few miles away. Below him, Zev could see the white cluster of Abu Yesha in the saddle of the hill and the green plateau of Gan Dafna above it.
As he drove within a few hundred yards of Fort Esther, he sensed something strange. He slowed down and looked out of the window. If the British were withdrawing it was odd that there was no activity about. Zev looked up to the concrete watch and gun tower. His eye caught the flag of Kawukji’s irregulars on the tower just as a burst of gunfire erupted from Fort Esther.
Zev slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road.
“Scatter!”
His troops dived for cover. The truck went up in flames. Zev quickly pulled his people back out of firing range, assembled, and began to double-time down the mountain toward Ein Of.
When Ari received the news that Fort Esther had been turned over to the Arabs he rushed to Safed immediately to the Taggart fort on Mount Canaan.
He went directly into the office of the British area commander, Major Hawks, a heavy-set man with dark features. Hawks was haggard from lack of sleep when the angry Ben Canaan entered.
“You Judas!” Ari snarled.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Hawks said in a half whine. “You’ve got to believe me.”
“No, I can’t believe it. Not from you.”
Hawks held his head in his hands. “Last flight at ten o’clock I got a call from headquarters in Jerusalem. They ordered me to pull my men out of Fort Esther immediately.”
“You could have warned me!”
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“I couldn’t,” Hawks mumbled. “I couldn’t. I’m still a soldier, Ben Canaan. I … I didn’t sleep all night. This morning I called Jerusalem and begged them to let me go back to Fort Esther and take it back.”
Ari glared at the man in contempt.
“Whatever you think of me is probably right.”
Ari continued to stare. ’
“All right, have it your way … there was no excuse.”
“It’s your life, Hawks. I guess you’re not the first soldier who swallowed his conscience.”
“What’s the use of talking? What’s done is done.”
“This may make you a good soldier, Hawks, but I feel sorry for you. You’re the one who has to live with the siege of Gan Dafna on his conscience, provided you’ve still got one.”
Hawks turned pale.
“You’re not going to leave those children on the mountain … you’ve got to take them away!”
“You should have thought about that. Without Fort Esther we’ve got to hold Gan Dafna or lose the whole Huleh Valley.”
“Look, Ari … I’ll convoy the children to safety.”
“They have no place to go.”